He Strikes at the Hotel

Chapter Thirty

After Nerissa and I cleared up after breakfast, she told me her plans for us for the day. Nerissa was very organised, and always had to have a plan. Even when she was overwhelmed by the situation (much like today) she always had a plan in place. It was crazy to think how someone could have their lives so figured out, that the mention of an event leads them to plan out that whole week step by step, incorporating everything you could imagine suitable, at very time specific intervals. Even though I was aware of all of this, it still always surprised me when she pulled the plans out of her head and let them roll so confidently off of her tongue.

Our next stop of the day was the lounge, where Nerissa had organised for us to have a table to ourselves where we could sit and relax whilst having a drink, having some proper time together before tonight. I was not privy to the time frame we had for this part of the day, but I was going to savour every moment of it, and hope that time would slowly creep by, elongating the time I had in peace.

We strolled into the lounge, where I instantly saw the table which had been reserved for us by Pierre, who was conveniently cleaning up for the end of his morning shift. A big silver sign sat in the middle of the table, with the word 'reserved' carved into it with skilled calligraphy. There were champagne flutes on stand by, with tea and coffee cups sitting next to them patiently. I can't recall the last time I had a table reserved for me, especially here. It was a lovely feeling, walking in and knowing that was for us. I can't believe the effort that Pierre had gone to setting this up whilst we were elsewhere.

"Did Pierre do all of this?" I asked, eyeing up the table, astonished that he would even have time to arrange the table so nicely whilst working on his own for the post-breakfast coffee rush.

"Well, I asked him to reserve a table for us, but I didn't request anything other than that." She replied, equally impressed with Pierre's efforts. I could see the romance sparking out of her eyes, the adoration she had for him radiating over her face.

As we continued our discussion, walking over to our table, Pierre came over to greet us, whilst pulling out the chairs from underneath the table for Nerissa and I to take a seat. Such a gentleman. We both sat down and thanked him profusely for the work he had done for us. His face began to blush, with a slight confusion looming alongside his happiness.

"I arranged the table and the hot drinks, however, I wasn't the one who got the champagne flutes out. I don't even know if I have any champagne..." Pierre admitted gracefully, obviously feeling deflated that he had not thought of that himself, to add a bit more thought to his already thoughtful gesture.

"Then who put them there? And why is there four of everything? Is this reserved for somebody else before us?" Nerissa questioned cautiously, not wanting to offend Pierre with her interrogation, but also wanting to find out so that she could continue with the scheduled day.

Pierre gave an unknowing shrug, whilst I began to take in the surroundings, feeling like I knew what was about to happen. As I began to have the realisation of what has happened, Nerissa seemed to click on instantly, and her face lit up whilst she turned towards me.

"Double date?!" She half asked, half demanded. Pierre seemed to take a little longer to twig, but once he did, he understood what was going on. Especially as Zachery had just walked in with Giles by his side. Him and Giles were talking and laughing together as if they were the best of friends, even though Giles was at least fifteen years older than Zachery. Giles looked our way, gave us a small nod, before gesturing to Zachery that he would be at the bar if he was needed, to which Zachery nodded along to, before turning to us. This is like deja-vu of the other night when I was sat in here on my own and was interrupted by this exact scene. Zachery glided over that night towards me just like he was doing now, with the same irritatingly charming smirk on his face as he was putting all the puzzle pieces together.

"I apologise for adding to the set up, I just thought it would be a nice addition." He said whilst waving a bottle of champagne towards us, causing Pierre and Nerissa to both grin widely at each other, whilst I was still staring up at Zachery, unable to detach myself from my thoughts and just enjoy the moment like everyone else was doing. Instead, I couldn't take my eyes off of him, I couldn't stop taking in every part of him, each feature was standing out more so than ever before.

I had to speak to him about the note that was put under my door, I needed to be completely transparent with him, keeping secrets will not help in any way shape or form. Zachery sat down at the table next to me, which seemed to set off a domino effect with Nerissa and Pierre, because as soon as Zachery pulled his chair in, they pushed theirs out and declared that they were going to get us some drinks. As they spoke, I glanced towards the array of drinks on our table now, which they seemed to completely ignore. They were both equally as bad at being subtle.

I was glad that they were up to something though, as I did really need to speak to Zachery, and it wasn't a conversation that I could have with him in front of anyone else.

"Would you like a glass, Kitten?" Zachery offered, whilst proceeding to fill my glass ever so slightly before I had even answered.

"What I would like, Zachery, is to know why I got a threatening note last night slipped under my door after you left. Warning me about going to the ball with you. Signed as 'a friendly warning'. That's what I'd like. But sure, a glass of overpriced champagne would also be great, thank you." I let out in my frustration, even though I hadn't intended to take it out on Zachery, as I know he is just as concerned about this as me, with it affecting his life just as much as mine. I slumped over in my chair and rested the side of my head in my hand, looking over desperately at Zachery, hoping he would give me an answer to everything, or at least a witty comment coming back at my bluntness.

He didn't even flinch. It was like he had shut off momentarily, contemplating what to say or do, which is the furthest thing from what I was hoping.

"This is getting too dangerous for you, Audrey Rose. I think we need to change our plan." He finally said.

"No! It has already gotten this far, I am not backing out because the plan seems to be working! I just need you to know, as you are the only person I can talk to about it. I didn't mean for the backlash of my emotions to fall on you. You didn't deserve it." I said, feeling genuinely guilty for scolding him, when he has done everything to try and make this nice for me and Nerissa.

"I understand that. But I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt, especially because of me." He practically whispered. I didn't know how to respond, which made it a relief when Nerissa and Pierre came trawling back with a tray full of different drinks for us to experiment with. I could tell that they were trying to waste time at the bar so we could be alone, and ended up ordering practically everything they could manage.

"So, Zachery, are you looking forward to tonight?" Nerissa asked, whilst handing out the variety of drinks she had before her. Zachery looked at her with his signature smile, as if nothing was said before.

"I am, indeed. I'm looking forward to it more so, because I have a beautiful date to accompany me, and two wonderful people attending with us." He said, whilst taking a sip out of the flute.

"Ah, yes, Nerissa has told me a great deal about you and our lovely Audrey Rose. It would seem that you are both quite smitten with each other." Pierre chipped in without thinking, which led to Nerissa swiftly nudging him in the ribs, which gave him the realisation that he probably said a little too much. I didn't mean to, but I could feel my cheeks starting to heat up, quickly travelling down to my neck. I could of sworn I saw a slight flicker of colour trying to escape from Zachery's face as well, but as soon as I spotted it, it disappeared.

"Oh, really?" Zachery mused, turning to look at me. "I must say, Audrey Rose really has made quite the impression on me. It's nice to know I've had the same effect on her." He said, putting his hand over mine, holding it there on the table for everyone to see. I couldn't tell whether this was part of the plan which I hadn't been made aware of, sort of improvisation I guess... Whatever the reason was, I couldn't deny that it was nice.

Nerissa shot me a look of excitement, before raising her glass, inviting everyone to join her.

"Cheers, everyone! Here's to a great night!" She bellowed. A great night. I hope she was right.